20 Tactics to Job Searching While Still Employed

Sometimes the role you’re in is just not quite right. Perhaps you’ve simply outgrown the position, want to learn more, or want to take your career in a different direction. Maybe your life has changed since you took this position, or maybe you don’t get along with your coworkers.

No matter what the reason you’re looking to leave, you know the smart thing to do is not leave until you have your next opportunity already lined up.

And that’s where the challenge comes in. How do you conduct a job search while you’re still working? Here are a few tips.

Confidential Tactics

1. Keep your search on the down low; don’t blab to your coworkers
2. Do any job search activity outside of work hours and location.
3. Avoid using your work email address and phone number.
4. When posting your resume online, most websites allow you to keep it as confidential as possible, including name, contact information, and employer names.
5. Use a professional recruiter – they know all about confidentiality issues.
6. Don’t use current coworkers as references; use former employers or coworkers instead.
7. Don’t schedule an interview during work hours.
8. If an interview falls close to work hours, avoid wearing your interview suit to work if business casual is the norm.
9. If your current employer does end up finding out about your job search, be honest. The only real reason it could get you in trouble is if you used company time and money for your job search activities.

Social Media Tactics

10. Don’t publicly advertise your job search on any social media site.
11. Update your LinkedIn profile – make sure to hide public updates if you’re concerned that work connections will get suspicious.
12. Join LinkedIn groups that are related to the job search or the industries and companies you’re interested in – but change your privacy settings so your membership is hidden from your connections.
13. Get new LinkedIn recommendations.
14. Connect to recruiters, HR people, and execs at companies you’re interested in – but set your connections visibility to hidden.

Time Management Tactics

15. If you have to do it at work, keep job search activities to lunch hours and breaks – and try to do it on personal mobile devices in case of employer tracking.
16. Don’t slack off at work; it could alert your employer to your job search activities and/or give them a reason to let you go.
17. Invest time. You may be busy with work, commuting, family time, dinners, and other activities, but even just a half hour each day to update your resume, network, and research companies is helpful.
18. Adjust your personal schedule if necessary. Wake up a little early, or take a break from extracurricular activities.
19. Most job boards are a waste of time, and you’ll end up wasting hours over just one or two good leads. Your time is better spent on networking.
20. If you’re really stuck for time, take a little vacation time and focus solely on your job search.

This entry was posted
on Wednesday, April 27th, 2011 at 5:08 pm and is filed under Job Search.
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